Apamea & Palmyra - 4th and 5th January, 2006

(January 4th)
Our itinerary listed this morning as free time in Hama. However, we decided that beyond the waterwheels, there wasn’t a great deal to see in Hama, so we took a minibus to an ancient site called Apamea. What we found there was astounding – a 2km colonnade along the top of a hill. We got dropped off at one end and walked through the site to the other end. The road was quite lovely and the weather was perfect (the cold wind that has followed us around seemed to drop away). We don’t know a great deal about Apamea – we think it was Persian. The site holds the ruins of several temples in addition to the colonnade. We spent a wonderful hour just wandering through.


On our way back to Hama, we stopped at the Apamea mosaics museum, which was very interesting. They didn’t have many complete mosaics, mostly fragments, but there were some beautiful ones of birds – we got a great photo of a rooster for Nana. The curator let us take photos until Fletch got out the tripod. He then told us we had to buy the postcards if we wanted any more. Unfortunately, the postcards here seem to have been made about twenty years ago and they look as faded as the mosaics themselves, so we gave them a miss.

We arrived back in Hama around midday and had some lunch before catching the bus to Palmyra. I slept for most of the journey and Fletch spent it listening to the ipod. There wasn’t a great deal to see on the three-hour trip – we were heading out into the desert. The road was quite busy, though, as it is the only road to Iraq and there were lots of military and commercial trucks heading that way.

It was dark and cold when we arrived in Palmyra. After dropping laundry off to be washed, we went out to a Bedouin restaurant for dinner. The meal was divine (Syrian food is really something to enjoy!) and very cheap. We have found that food prices here are very low – if we buy something in the street, we would be hard-pressed to pay over 50 Syrian pounds (this is about US$1). For a three-course meal, with drinks, we pay about 250 (US$5).

After dinner, the males in the group decided to go to the barber for a cut-throat shave. What happened next took us all by surprise – Fletch ordered the barber to take off his beard and goatee. Yes, you read correctly – he is cleanshaven! The change is astounding – most of the tour group didn’t recognise him afterwards. He looks quite a bit younger and I think he resembles Hugo Weaving in ‘The Matrix’. I’m still getting used to it, he really does look very different.



(January 5th)
I think he came to regret the shave just a touch the next morning, when we headed out into the coldest day we’ve yet experienced in Syria. He commented all day that he missed the warmth provided by his beard. It tried very hard to rain all day, without actually succeeding. This meant that none of us were too keen to be outside and ended up going over the ancient ruins of Palmyra in just a few hours.

We started at the Bel Temple, which was quite stunning. We then went to the Palmyra tombs – an underground and a tower version. Apparently, Palmyra is the only ancient city where the bodies were interred into these kind of tombs. The tower tomb we visited was four storeys high and held approximately 40 bodies per level, with the most important family members on the bottom level and young children on the top. We were able to climb up to the third floor for a look.

We then went to one of the subterranean tombs. I was only able to stay underground for a minute or two – the smell of sulphur was overwhelming. This tomb was even more remarkable than the tower tomb because most of the sculpture identifying the tomb occupants was still in place. There was also some painting on the walls, which was in remarkable repair.

From the tombs we headed over to the main ruins of Palmyra. We found the ruins of Apamea far more impressive than Palmyra and as a result didn’t really want to stick around for too long. We did have a ‘swim’ in Zenobia’s baths and took turns acting on the amphitheatre stage, but then headed back to town. Along the way, Virginia and I took a camel ride through part of the site, which was great fun.

We spent the afternoon in various ways – I had a facial massage and traditional Bedouin teas to help relieve the effects of the severe head cold I currently have and Fletch spent the afternoon smoking nageela in Mohammed’s Bedouin tent. Nageela is flavoured tabacco smoked through a water-pipe –he had apple-flavoured. The evening will be very quiet, as Fletch is starting to get my cold. I think we’ll have an early night to give our bodies a chance to fight the virus. So, til next time, adieu.

Fletch’s tips for new travellers

There is a weird device that Bedouins allege is a musical instrument. Looking like a square banjo, having only one string (which I’m almost sure was fishing line), and played with a bow, it is really a device for confounding western musicians whilst the Bedouin makes off with your wife, your camels, or both. To short-circuit this racket, ask the host to give an impromptu performance. When he cannot make a sound out of it either, he will attempt to cover his embarrassment by giving you complimentary tea. Is good ya? You like?